What Does The Future Hold For Young Airplane Geeks?

The other day my seven year old son, Max, asked me why I can’t take him on the Concorde. When I explained to him that Concorde had been retired in November 2003 I was met with the follow up question enquiring why there were supersonic jets when I was a kid, but none while he is a kid.

Answering this question was more of dancing the question that actually answering it.

I sat with my son and showed him photos of Discovery and discussed how the Space Shuttle was essentially a massive glider once it reentered the atmosphere … and began pondering, what does the future hold for young airplane geeks?

The Airbus A380 is a massive aircraft and a breathtaking to stand beneath, the Boeing 787 is incredible and amazing to be just a few yards from as it puts its wheels down, the Lockheed Martin F-35 is fantastic in its technology and versatility … but only one of these new aircraft breaks the speed of sound and chances are neither my Son nor I will ever get to take flight in it … and none of these aircraft travel into space.

Comments

I worked for Northwest Airlines for 10 years. In addition to their JFK- and (MIA-) IAD-LHR service, British Airways used to run a fair number of Concorde charters. They would occasionally run an interline employee special where you could enter a lottery to fly a deadhead/repositioning flight on Concorde from the East Cost to LHR for under $1000. I submitted my application and cashier’s check 5 or 6 times, but never got picked. If/when air travel goes supersonic again, I’ll be the first one in line to by a revenue ticket!

To be brutally honest, the airplane geek in me is just about dead. What do I see at every airport? The same parade of boring aircraft. I just can’t get excited over seeing a WN 738 because I’ve seen it countless times in other livery.

Even the military aircraft are getting boring and don’t even get me started on the sad excuse for airshows today. Do I care if a rocket truck can beat a Pitts Special down a runway? No, but that’s what most airshows seem to be moving to. I remember an F-15 crossing over the crowd from behind at trans-sonic speeds before lighting up her afterburner and going vertical, the ground shaking from the power of the engines at such a low altitude and the heat on our faces from the afterburner. When is the last time that happened? Or a B-1B coming low and fast across the crowd line and lighting up her quad-afterburners at show center? Sure there is the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels, but once you’ve seen them once it is like watching the same A320s taking off at DEN.

Don’t get me wrong. I still love aircraft. As I type this I hear one headed toward final at DEN and I find myself searching the sky to try to see it, but I know in my brain it will just be another A320, 757, or 767 even as my heart wants to see something new and wonderful.

I often discuss this lack of something Concorde-esce with my stepfather who worked on the 757/767 project at Boeing. We end up agreeing that the drive today is toward risk aversion and higher profit margins. Companies just don’t want to take a gamble on something too cutting edge. Airbus had the A380, but even that concept had been considered at Boeing previously. We aren’t a nation or risk takers (be it US, France, Britain, etc). We want to keep our jobs and mitigate our risk.

About Me

Fish has been covering aviation and transportation security issues since September 15, 2001, after walking away from Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan following four days of documenting the worst aviation security disaster in history.

Having spent more than a decade-and-a-half as a full-time photojournalist, Fish now divides his time between building social media and social commerce strategies and solutions for global travel brands, along with researching aviation and transportation security.

Growing up at the end up New York's JFK International Airport's Runway 4R/22L probably explains Fish’s enjoyment of watching planes fly overhead. When not working or shooting photos, Fish can be found playing with (and cleaning up after) his three kids, chasing his dogs, standing in the kitchen cooking, monitoring radios public safety and federal radios and of course cheering for the Red Sox.

You can find Fish on Twitter at @flyingwithfish …and … join Fish every Thursday at 3:30pm EST as he hosts the weekly #TNI #Travel Chat on Twitter.